Page 40 of The Rancher's Unloved Wife

(Oh, and you're right, you're not gonna like it.)

I'm dead.

(Not until tonight, I'm guessing, but what a way to go, right?)

And it was with these thoughts running continuously through her head that she unintentionally bought herself a reprieve.

IT WAS ALREADY DARKoutside the house when Summerine woke. She felt woozy and hot, but then she turned to her side andsaw Ryu seated next to her bed, and it was like having a bucket of ice-cold water thrown at her face.

She sat up with a start and winced immediately as the sides of her temple throbbed.

"Easy now," her husband murmured. "The doctor came in to see you earlier."

"I d-don't remember."

"You've contracted some kind of bug, but Dr. Sherman has already given you antibiotics."

So that was why. Her head didn't just hurt awfully. Her nose also itched unbearably, and her lips felt terribly dry.

"That bad?"

Realizing that her so-called expressive face was guilty of giving everything away again, Summerine could only nod and admit the truth. "Horrible."

"Then we're on the same boat."

Her eyes widened. "You're sick, too?" Because right now, her husband looked his usual ridiculously good self and in tip-top shape.

"Not exactly—-"

She looked at him in confusion, and his lips twisted in a self-mocking smile.

"But if you put yourself in my shoes..."

She still didn't get it.

"And realize that your wife has managed to make herself sick at the thought of only havingoneman in her life—-"

Oh...

"And that's none other than her husband, naturally—-"

No.

"It's a valid reason to feel horrible, don't you think?"

Summerine felt as if her temperature had spiked by a couple of degrees by the time Ryu finished speaking. "It's...it's n-not like that at all," she finally managed to protest.

"While evidence suggests otherwise," her husband murmured, "I'm willing to start on a clean slate if you are."

Summerine nodded eagerly. "Absolutely!"

His lips curved in a smile of approval, and Summerine's breath caught.

"Tell me then..."

She looked at him expectantly.

"How do I make you fall in love with me instead?"

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